There are many industrial situations in which it is desirable to effect lifting and moving of an object from one location to another and to do so without damaging or risking damage to the object during the lifting and movement.
Devices which grip and lift or move an object are frequently referred to as end effectors and are employed in many types of industries particularly where such lifting and moving must be accomplished in an environment hostile to a human being (e.g., radiation area). Where the object to be handled has a fixed geometry or shape, the end effector may be, in most cases, specially designed to accomplish the task. However, when the objects will change size and shape over a broad range, this increases the complexity of the task and in the past no known device has been found to be completely satisfactory for a wide range of shapes of objects.